Setting a marketing budget is a challenge for every company. Who does the work, what exactly gets done, and how much money should be allocated to third-party services? The question “How much does marketing cost?” is almost impossible to answer without knowing the company, offering, industry, and competitive landscape. Spreadsheets help, but there’s no absolute truth—not even after a thousand marketing meetings. We wrote this article to make budgeting and resourcing at least a little easier.

Budgeting

What is a marketing budget?

A marketing budget is a financial plan that covers all marketing activities and their related costs: paid media, website development and maintenance, PR and representation, salaries and overhead for in-house marketing staff, office costs, software, etc. It defines how much money the company plans to spend on marketing over a given period—typically a year.

Why a marketing budget matters

Planning and managing the budget helps you hit business goals. Marketing is essential to success because it builds and maintains customer relationships, increases brand awareness, and attracts new customers.

Without sufficient budget, you’ll lose competitive edge. With the right activities, you’ll stand out and win more business. The key is to size the budget correctly so it fits your needs and goals.

Planning the budget

Start from business objectives. What do you want marketing to achieve and how? New customer acquisition, brand awareness, market share growth?

Then estimate costs across potential tactics and choose those with the best ROI.

Monitor competitors: how much they spend and how they execute. This helps you set a realistic, competitive budget.

Allocating the budget

Distribute spend across channels and tactics (paid ads, communications, digital, etc.). The split depends on goals, audience, and strategy.

Review frequently and adjust. Markets change quickly; flexibility lets you respond and seize new opportunities.

Tracking and analysis

Track results and evaluate how well the budget supports your goals. Analyze campaign effectiveness, customer response, and costs versus outcomes.

This shows where to optimize and how to improve impact.

Useful metrics:

• CPA (Cost per Acquisition): Cost to acquire one customer
  
• CPL (Cost per Lead): Cost to generate one lead
  
• ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Revenue per ad euro
  
• CLV (Customer Lifetime Value): Revenue one customer generates over time
  

With these in place, you can continuously reallocate budget to what works.

A look at the numbers

Budget decisions directly affect how efficiently you reach your audience, build brand perception, and drive sales.

Large and mid-size companies may invest up to 10% of revenue in marketing—especially when average order values are high. There’s no one-size budget, but here’s a starting formula:

Keskikaupan koko x (liidien määrä x konversioprosentti) = myynti/kk

Example with typical figures:

5000 € x (200/kk x 7 %) = 70 000 €/kk

If you invest 10% of that in marketing, that’s €7,000/month. Not bad if €63,000/month is left after marketing, right?

Marketing is more than pouring money into Google. Without a clear plan and expertise, your budget might as well go into a wishing well—or buy magic beans.

Example budget allocation

Assume an annual budget of €84,000 (€7,000/month).

One possible monthly split:

This is only an example—the real mix depends on your goals, industry, and audience.

Budgets by company stage

Startup

• Goal: Awareness
  
• Budget: 15–25% of revenue
  
• Focus: Social, Google Ads, website CRO
  

Growth stage

• Goal: Sales & lead growth
  
• Budget: 10–15% of revenue
• Focus: SEM, content, newsletters
  

Established brand

• Goal: Loyalty & brand strength
  
• Budget: 5–10% of revenue
  
• Focus: PR, brand campaigns, CX
  

Ten factors to consider when setting your marketing budget

Goals & strategy: Sales growth, awareness, or a new launch? Each requires a different plan and budget.

Sales growth, awareness, or a new launch? Each requires a different plan and budget.

Competitor analysis:

Know what rivals spend and how they market (e.g., Meta Ads Library).

Facebookin ads library.

Revenue & profitability:

Typical ranges are 5–15% of revenue, depending on industry and stage.

Test & learn:

Start smaller, iterate based on results—especially for new firms or launches.

Channels available:

Choose those that fit your audience and objectives (digital, social, content, events, traditional).

Seasonality & campaigns:

Reserve for peak seasons and major pushes.

Measurement:

Track and analyze performance to enable budget shifts.

Cost efficiency:

Use automation, precise targeting, and partnerships.

Long-term view:

Marketing is an investment; big gains take time.

Flexibility:

Keep room to pivot when things change.

When determining your marketing budget, it’s essential to consider your company’s unique needs and resources. One critical aspect of budgeting is continuous monitoring and adaptation — this allows you to optimize your marketing strategy and ensure that your budget delivers the best possible results.

So how much should you spend?

It depends. As a rule of thumb:
Less-known brands: ~10–20% of projected incoming revenue (annualized).
Established brands: 5–10%.
Use these as starting points and adjust for your industry’s specifics.

In-house or outsourced?

Marketing is vast, spanning dozens of specialties. Few companies have large teams of experts; work often falls on a handful of people. Learning everything takes time, spreads resources thin, and results may be only “okay.” It’s understandable leadership feels spend is wasted and can’t answer “how much does marketing cost” with confidence.

Ask: how valuable is your team’s time? Would you be more effective if photography, content, and design experts focused on their core strengths while other areas were outsourced?

You need presence across SEO/SEM, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, media, newsletters, and more—each complex.

A functioning marketing engine can have more moving parts than a family car. And just like that car, it isn’t assembled by one person—specialists handle each station.

Play to your strengths

Maybe you have great designers and fast, accurate writers. Perhaps someone excels at marketing automation. But no one is eager to own search ads or drip campaigns—so they fall to whoever has time. That’s a good candidate to outsource.

A marketing specialist is typically 30–50% more efficient than someone doing it ad hoc.

Think of marketing like home renovation: DIY can be cheaper on paper, but a professional delivers faster, cleaner results—and you don’t have to juggle a hundred other tasks mid-project.

Marketing and sales: the same field

Budgeting isn’t just marketing’s job. Sales and marketing work hand in hand—and top performers operate as one.
Joint budgeting ensures marketing spend truly supports sales targets.

(for specific products, services, or segments)

What should you invest in?

Only you can answer definitively. For B2C, social channels are efficient, affordable ways to reach audiences. For B2B, Google—and often LinkedIn—beats everyday social. Publish fresh content regularly: answer common questions, show how you solved a client problem, explain your process or product.

Often, pros do this better—precisely because they bring an outside, customer’s perspective. An external agency writes SEO-friendly content that answers buyer questions and drives qualified traffic.

Focus in-house on what you already do well. Outsource the rest to get the best outcome.

FAQ: Marketing budgets

How much should we spend on marketing?
Typically 5–15% of revenue, up to 20% for early-stage companies.

Can a marketing budget be too small?
Yes. Too little spend often means no visible results—wasting the entire budget.

How do we optimize the budget?
Track results, cut underperforming channels, and double down on what works.